Eight million UK homes without off-street parking could soon be within a five-minute walk of an electric vehicle chargepoint, under a community-owned model being scaled up in this project. The problem is stark: people who park on the street have no reliable way to charge an EV, which locks them out of fuel savings and cleaner air. Previous work by the consortium showed that community investment can kick-start demand in these areas, but the model has not been rolled out widely. This phase tackles that gap by testing a demand-led approach—letting local residents identify and finance their own chargepoints, rather than relying on cash-strapped local authorities. If the model works, it could transform how on-street charging infrastructure is planned and paid for. The project also integrates solar panels, battery storage, and even defibrillators into chargepoint sites, measuring the social and financial value of each combination. An online platform will track how much community, private, and public investment is needed in different neighbourhoods, from dense urban streets to suburban terraces. The result would be a scalable, replicable business plan that lets local authorities target limited resources where chargepoints are most likely to be used—cutting air pollution and carbon emissions without waiting for central funding.
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Scaling on Street Charging Infrastructure will deliver pilot EV chargepoint installations to work towards our vision for the 8 million homes without off street parking to be within 5 minutes walk of an Electric Vehicle (EV) Chargepoint. This will deliver: * increased take up of electric vehicles, allowing people to save money on fuel costs; * reduced air pollution and CO2 emissions. The vision has been developed by the partners working on the Phase 1 project combining learning from previous projects - CEVEN, SAMBA, V2GO funded by Innovate UK. The CEVEN project has already demonstrated that community investment can provide chargepoints and stimulate demand for EVs in areas without off street parking. The challenge is to scale this up to other Local Authority (LA) areas and the consortium has been widened for Phase 2. OBJECTIVES & FEATURES The project will implement the activities researched in the feasibility phase, including the following elements: a) planning community owned charging infrastructure in LA areas and Community lead chargepoints. This is based on local demand, mapping data and engagement with local stakeholders; b) incorporating a variety of additional uses into chargepoint infrastructure -- renewables integration, battery storage and defibrillators. The project will measure the social and financial value for stakeholders as well as technical / commercial implications of each use case; c) installing and managing chargepoints in the different use cases. d) developing an online platform for community investment and evaluating levels of community / private / public investment required in different locations (with variable socio-economic profiles and population density) e) Building a coherent exploitation plan and business plan. DETAILS OF INNOVATION The innovation lies in the business model - giving local people the tools to identify and finance their own chargepoint with little reliance on LAs. It builds on earlier projects by assessing commercial impacts of integrating other technologies like solar panels on community centres to generate additional value. A demand lead approach - encouraging local people to invest, reduces the risk on public and private investors as they can target funding where chargepoints are most likely to be used. The project offers a new way for hard pressed LAs to stimulate chargepoints in their area and make the most of their limited resources.
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